5.1. Stand Alone Procedures and Functions

We’ve already seen how we can use names to represent numbers (both integers like 3 and -325 and decimal numbers like 2.4 and -322.9392), strings (like "Hi There"), turtles, and images. When we do calculations using the names, the computer will look up the value for each name, and then use the value in the calculation.

We can also name a sequence of statements and then ask the computer to run that sequence whenever we use that name. In programming there are two different terms used for a named sequence of statements: procedure and function. As we have already learned, procedure accomplishes some task or makes something happen, but doesn’t return anything. A function returns a result.

Many procedures and functions are built directly into Python or libraries that we can import. We have seen a number of them that work with strings and turtles. There are also functions that work with numbers. The function abs returns the absolute value of its input. The function int takes a decimal number as input and returns just the integer part. Try running this sample with the Codelens:

name = "jeff" upperName = name.upper() # call upper function on the string called "name" x = -12.6 wholePart = int(x) # call the "int" function and use the variable x as input positiveValue = abs(x) # call the "abs" function and use the variable x as input

Notice that functions like abs and int are called differently than the ones we use for strings and turtles. The procedures left and forward are part of the turtle object. So when we use them, we need to specify which turtle should run them using dot notation: alex.left(90). The function upper is part of a string object. So when we want to convert a string to upper case, we need to say which string is going to do the upper function: name.upper(). In constrast, abs and int are not part of any object - they are stand alone functions that are not part of any object. So we call them without using dot notation to specify a particular object.

In this book we will focus on writing these stand alone procedures and functions. These are not part of any particular object and thus are not called using dot notation. However, as we will see over the next few pages, they can still work with objects as long as those objects are provided to the procedure or function as input.

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